


Bear Traps and Snakes

by The_Peculiar_Artist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ecto-Tongue (Undertale), F/M, Fluff, Nonbinary Chara & Frisk (Undertale), Possessive Sans (Undertale), Protective Sans (Undertale), Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader-Insert, Reader-is-female, all-boss-monsters-are-nagas, lots-of-fluff, maybe-some-angst, monsters-were-never-locked-underground, nagas, reader-is-cool, sans-doesn’t-like-humans, snake-skeleboi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Peculiar_Artist/pseuds/The_Peculiar_Artist
Summary: [Y/n] [L/n] decided to move deep in the forest of Ebott for the sole purpose of protecting the creatures there. Screw the tales of Monsters supposedly living there, she was gonna protect every damn animal or Monster that lived there, since nobody else was going to.This sentiment led to her meeting a certain skele-snake, who’s not sure if her actions were truly that selfless and genuine.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 35
Kudos: 169





	1. I. Wait... Monsters are real?

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo. So, I got inspired to make this, my motivation ramping up so much that I just had to start writing it. Hope you enjoy, updates will probably be slow cause school and all that, but I’ll try my best to get updates out on this.

This state sucks.

But, then again, she can’t complain much because she chose this. And she was definitely going to stick with it, no matter how much she absolutely fucking hated this state right now.

Rain was pouring down, so heavily that she was sure it was trying to drown you. She flipped the sky off with an angry huff.

This rain wasn’t cold rain, but it was the type that made everything very humid very quickly. The air was sticky and the ground was squishy with water, a terrible combination really.

Walking around the forest with only a flashlight, a water bottle, some snacks in her backpack, and a long stick holder filled with, you guessed it, long sticks, she was prepared for another day’s work. Or well, night, she thought it was a good idea to go out at night doing this.

Not like [Y/n] had much of a choice, setting up her WiFi took ages and getting around to finally finish her commission page was a hassle. Procrastination made her do this at night, since she was determined to never miss a day of doing this.

Hunting in this forest was strictly forbidden, so when she caught wind of it happening here, she never moved out so quickly in her entire life.

[Y/n] could not stay at home, knowing there were creatures out here being slaughtered illegally, so she went out every day to set off and take every trap she could find.

It was the best way to deter hunters, confronting them head on would be way too dangerous. All it takes is one unstable guy with a gun, that was too scared to go to prison for doing what he was doing, for her life to end.

The wilderness tends to be a common place to hide a body, especially in the deeper parts of it that hardly any one goes to.

Waving her morbid thoughts away, she pulled out a long stick and deactivated a bear trap. She had to keep her wits about her out here, any type of animal could jump her or she could accidentally stumble in a bear trap herself.

Eventually, the area was clear of all traps, which was a whole lot less than yesterday. Maybe she was finally getting through to the assholes leaving them out.

Putting what she could fit in her backpack and carrying the few that couldn’t, she began her trek back to her truck. The feeling of being watched tickled the back of her neck, which made her stop and look around.

Nothing seemed amiss, but she kept her guard up as she walked.

An occasional rustle of a bush or breaking of a stick would make her look around, but she could never see what was making these sounds. Hopefully, nothing was hunting her, it would not end well for her if something was.

Not bringing a knife was rather stupid of her.

A breath of relief was released when she made it back to her truck, apparently her paranoia was all for naught, seeing as nothing attacked her. Loading the bed of the truck with bear traps and the rest of the sticks, a voice suddenly cut through the not-so silent forest noise.

“what are you doing with those?”

The voice was deep, very deep. It had a rasp to it too, a pleasing factor that would’ve been great, if it wasn’t some stranger lurking in the shadows’ voice.

Turning to see if it was a hunter that caught her taking his traps, [Y/n] only saw trees and leafy brush around her. Turning back around to unload the remaining things she had, she spoke up.

“Disposing ‘em. Why? Got a problem with that?” She had never felt watched before in these woods, but it was clear someone was now. “is that what you’re actually doing? or are going to set them up elsewhere seeing that you didn’t catch anything?”

His, something she determined by hearing that it sounded like a male, voice was accusatory and filled with contempt.

“I really don’t like you throwing around accusations, fella.” He growled, which surprised, cause it sounded so... animalistic. Like she was dealing with an animal and not a man.

“and i don’t like how you’re avoiding my questions, or your attitude. do you not know what i am?” Sounds of rustling bushes and movement were heard close by her now.

[Y/n] rolled her eyes before turning around. Her eyes widened just a bit when she saw him. 

Okay, definitely not a man.

Standing, or well, towering, over her was a skeleton, whose bottom half was that of a snakes’. Not like a regular snake though, his scales were a bright blue and looked smooth, as well as slightly translucent.

A Monster, which completely blew her mind since Monsters were the stuff of legends and bedtime stories to scare little kids. Still though, her awe was short-lived as she just crossed her arms.

“Wow, so all-mighty and impressive.” Her voice was monotone, and very much not impressed. Sure, for a little bit she was, but this guy, er, Monster, was trying to accuse of things she was most certainly not doing.

“Buddy, I’m just to take these stupid traps and throw them away. You go on back to your forest friends and let me do my service to the forest.” He blinked at her, not expecting to her to stand up to him at all.

In truth, he thought she was going to run away screaming her little head off.

Before he could say anything else, [Y/n] turned around, closed the door on the truck bed and got in the driver’s seat. “Nice meeting you, skele-man, hopefully next time you’ll be nicer to me, I’m not trying to hurt any of you.”

With that, she started her truck and rode off down that particularly bumpy road, leaving behind the Monster, who only stared as she left him behind.

‘That was certainly interesting...’ She thought to herself, making her way to the dump in town. It had an incinerator, which was perfect for getting rid of bear traps.

Unloading and stuffing the traps in a garbage bag she had on hand, like she always does, she threw it all into the fiery machine. [Y/n] briefly thought if this was a crime or not, but decided that it wasn’t. What they were doing was illegal and she was putting a stop to it.

Like a self-proclaimed saviour of the forest.

Being incredibly tired by now, she hopped back in her truck and made her way back home. The house she bought was back in the woods a bit, a dirt road leading to it.

Pulling into the little driveway she had, she turned off her truck and quickly made her way inside the home.

Her muscles ached from lugging around the heavy traps, but it was a necessary evil. She kicked her boots off and slipped the red plaid jacket she on, off too.

Now in a tank top and jeans, she made her way to her room, immediately flipping onto the extremely soft bed of hers. She definitely splurged a lot to get the bed as comfy as it is, but it was totally worth it. Kicking off her jeans as they were very uncomfortable to sleep in, she didn’t get up to slip on any sleep shorts.

Not bothering with the covers, sleep and its’ warmth quickly invaded all of her senses, clouding her brain with promises of a good rest.

Her eyes drooped shut, comfortable as hell right now as she fell asleep.


	2. II. Snakes are the assholes of nature (and I don’t mean the reptilian kind.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a bonding moment for [Y/n] and Sans, still not friends, but they’ll get there eventually. Hopefully.

[Y/n] sipped on her overly sweet coffee, something she loved to do to the bitter bean juice. Sugar was just delicious and she revelled in the taste of sweetness. Yeah, she had a major sweet tooth.

When she was finally finished, she made some toast and waited by washing out her cup. [Y/n] was sort of a neat person, she didn’t like when things got overly dirty, but if there were a few articles of clothing strewn about her room or a single tupperware in the sink, waiting to be cleaned, she wouldn’t stress out too much about cleaning it up.

Munching on the toast, she went upstairs and grabbed her tablet, checking her commission page. A sigh escaped her lips upon seeing nobody interested, usually there would be at least one, who would ask about prices and then disappear, but at least there would be one.

She switched the tablet off, deciding to bring it with her, and her way out to her truck. It was time again and she was a little nervous now, especially knowing that Monsters were real. Stories were told of such creatures, killing humans and all that fun stuff, but the skele-snake didn’t murder her brutally, so maybe the stories were a bit embellished to scare people.

Still... [Y/n] was a little wary when she got to the forest, stepping out of her truck and walking into the thick of the forest. She may of stood up to him, considering who rude he was, but she realises now that angering an ancient being of the forest was probably not the wisest thing to have done.

Trudging through the overgrowth, a long stick in hand and her backpack, which held her tablet this time, she watched the ground for traps and occasionally looked up, hoping to not spot a certain skeletal snake.

What were they called again? The book she had about Monsters had chapters upon chapters of detailing the different types of Monsters.

The memories of reading it were foggy, but what he was started with an ‘N.’ Ah, well, she’ll just have to look at the book later after going home.

A rustle in the leaves in front of her snapped her out of her thoughts. It wasn’t the Monster, unless he could somehow shrink and live under the leaves on the ground and it wasn’t any kind of trap, so far there weren’t any at all.

Slithering out from under the dead leaves and sticks, came a snake. It spotted her pretty quickly, a soft hiss coming from it before it started curling up. A strange noise emitted from it, clueing her in that this was a rattlesnake. 

That’s alright, she knew that these snakes aren’t aggressive and they would rather not tango with a human. The rattling increased, a warning that she needed to back off.

“Okay little snake, I’ll get out of your territory.” Taking very slow steps back, as to not alarm it, she heard a little ways off beside her, the sound of something big moving around. She turned her head, only to see that skeleton again, leaving against a tree, watching her.

“i see you met one of my ‘forest friends,’ having fun?” She shot him a glare before successfully moving away from the snake without getting bite. It relaxed before slithering back to wherever it came from before.

“Lots of fun, actually.” She turned to fully face him, grinning to herself, feeling proud of her accomplishment. She’s never encountered a rattlesnake before, but she searched what was native to this land and what to do when you have to deal with any of them.

Too bad there wasn’t anything on skele-snakes.

“What do you want though? Here to try to spook me again, make me confess to doing something I never was doing in the first place.” The Monster narrowed his eyes, frowning at how she did not seem to be phased by him in the slightest.

“y’know, if i really wanted you out of here, i could just kill you. it would incredibly easy.” [Y/n] just gave him an unimpressed look, crossing her arms as her grin faded. “You probably can, but I have a feeling that you’re not going to. If you were, wouldn’t you have done it by now?”

She was really treading in dangerous waters here, why was she antagonising him?! A part of her screamed to get the hell out of here to avoid being killed by this Monster.

“is that a challenge, little human?” He was definitely mocking her previous conversation with the rattlesnake. “Not really, but whatever makes you happy, buddy.” He got closer, which made her nearly take a step back, but that would only make him see that she was a little uneasy around him.

“Was that supposed to scare me? How terrifying, you got closer to me.” The sarcastic response did not please him, but that wasn’t the point of her saying that, so another small victory for her. She started walking away from him, staying far away from the rattlesnake area and still trying to find more traps.

He apparently followed her, hearing him move beside her, but stayed not very close. “are you looking for more of those traps? nobody’s been out here since you last night.” [Y/n] scratched the back of her neck, seeing that there really were no traps. 

“Probably should’ve waited to do this in the afternoon, the mornings are probably when the hunters actually set them.” A silence settled between her and the skeletal snake, just both of them walking, or well, slithering for one of them. 

It was sort of peaceful, which isn’t something she would’ve expected from being literally a few feet away from being that could kill her without a single thought. 

But then again, humans were just as capable of doing that too, so there really wasn’t that much of a difference between walking beside a stranger and walking beside an ancient skeleton Monster.

“why do you this?” [Y/n] looked over at him with a curious look, before shrugging. “It’s illegal to hunt here, so I’m just doing my part to ensure no animals, or Monsters now apparently, are harmed by assholes that could care less about doing horrible and very illegal shit.”

She huffed in frustration, just by thinking about how evil a person could be to hurt other beings, just because they can’t talk back or defend themselves against a gun or a bear trap. Just because they see them as weaker and inferior to humanity.

“It’s really funny that snakes get such a bad rap, symbolising evil and manipulation, but humans should really be the ones who symbolise that stuff. We’re basically parasites, leeching off the Earth before the inevitability that there won’t be anything to leech off of anymore, thus killing ourselves and everything around us.”

That’s when she realised she was ranting quite a lot to a Monster that asked her a very simple answer. Her cheeks and tips of her ears turned pink with embarrassment. 

Looking over at him, she gave him an apologetic smile before looking away again. Probably a good thing to try and be more friendly towards him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a whole tangent about how humanity sucks.” He examined her, almost analytically before nodding. “i mean, you’re right. humans are a scourge to the planet, but...” 

He trailed off, making her glance back at him, only to see him stop. She in turn stopped walking, watching him with a confused expression. “Yo, you alright?”

“i gotta go, but, uh, the names sans, by the way.” Before she could process anything, he disappeared.

Like, vanished, right in front of her.

“What in the actual hell? How? What?” [Y/n] was stupefied, one, he was gone. And two, HE WAS GONE. He didn’t move really fast away or anything, he literally just disappeared. Another thing, his name was Sans? Like the font? 

Perhaps she should’ve expected him to do something crazy like that, Monsters could wield magic, so it makes sense if he could just... magic away? Maybe it was some sort of teleportation magic, that would be really cool.

[Y/n] shook her head, her mind catching up on processing all of this stuff that happened way too quickly for her brain to keep up with. Drawing something could calm her frantic mind down.

Sitting against a tree nearby her, she pulled out her tablet and stylus, getting to work immediately. A few moments passed before she looked at all that she had done, which were just a bunch of little doodles and sketches.

And they were all Sans.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter, and fun fact: Rattlesnakes are actually very polite, they only really bite if you are actively trying to capture/kill them, get too close and scare them, or if you step on them. Plus, their bites are rarely fatal, hurt like hell though.


	3. III. A day of relaxation and drawing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans starts warming up to [Y/n] a bit.

[Y/n] didn't see Sans the next day, or the next, or the next. A week had flown by and no sign of the skele-snake. For some odd reason, it worried her just a bit. Hopefully, he was alright.

She kept doing what was she was doing, taking any bear traps she could find, incinerating them, rinse and repeat. However, the amount of them dwindle quite a lot as it went on. She hadn't thought the hunters would've given up this easily, but that meant less work for her. 

Like today, there were no traps to take and a commission finally popped up for her to do. It was a character of theirs they wanted in some type of epic pose, shading and everything. No problem, more money and she finally was able to draw something that wasn't a certain skeletal snake.

[Y/n] did eventually find her book on Monsters, which stated that what Sans was, is something called a Naga. It was pretty cool to learn about them, or what the book knew about them anyway. She still wasn't sure if she trust all of the information within those pages.

Apparently, Nagas were very territorial, even with their own family members. It made her wonder if where she was consistently at was his territory. If so, she was lucky to be alive, most didn't take kindly to trespassers. 

Why did hunters try to hunt here again?

Something else caught her eye too, Nagas mated for life, which was a little hard to imagine for her. Finding someone that you'll be with forever. Sure, there was marriage for humans, but there was divorce too. What if later down the road, you weren't that compatible anymore? 

Nagas were bound together forever, so she wondered if they too could fall out of love like humans. 

Perhaps she could ask Sans all these questions instead of herself, who definitely did not have the answers for her. If only he would show up one day.

[Y/n] sat against the same tree she had consistently sat at for a week now, her drawing tree she liked to call it. Where she, well, drew. It wasn't a very good name, she admits it, but it was better than the sitting tree, the original name.

Sketching out a cool pose was... difficult. She kept on redrawing it over and over, getting more and more frustrated with herself. She knew that if she kept going like this, she was going to burn herself out and inevitably stop drawing, only to try again tomorrow. 

Why could she draw Sans for days straight, but not get one stupid pose right? It didn't make sense! Groaning in annoyance, she leaned completely against the tree, her head tilting upwards towards the branches above.

Relaxing, that would be good for her.

[Y/n] closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of nature. It was rather nice, birds chirping away, an occasional screech of a squirrel and wind blowing through the trees. It helped to calm her.

It was all shattered through when some kind of small object bounced off of her head with a small 'clunk!'

[Y/n] frowned, looking up and shaking her fist with anger, fully ready to severely reprimand whatever creature did that. "Listen here, wise guy...!" Her words trailed off, seeing a rather familiar Monster staring down at her with a smug smirk.

"were you about to berate me?" She sighed before standing up, still keeping her eyes on him. "No. Well, maybe. I thought you were a squirrel or a bird."

He hummed in understanding, nodding his head a bit. "rather nice day, huh?" He was... acting a lot more polite than their previous conversations, especially their first one. Maybe he was warming up to her. 

"Yep, until you decided to throw some sort of thing at me," she paused, seeing an acorn on the ground. "An acorn, really? Why?"

Sans chuckled before making his way out of the tree. It was rather fascinating to watch, his snake body effortlessly being back to climb down the tree with a grace she didn't he really had.

"why was it an acorn or why did i throw something at you?" This was the closest he had ever been to her before. "Why did you throw something at me?" He shrugged nonchalantly. 

"dunno. felt like it. plus i wanted to see your reaction to me being in the tree." She tilted her head and put a hand on her hip. "And did you find my reaction satisfactory?" This time he shook his head, grinning. 

"not in the slightest, it was really disappointing. though, the 'listen here, wise guy' was amusing." He did the worst possible impression of her, shaking his fist and everything, mocking what she did. This earned a laugh out of here though. "Wow, that was horrible."

He put a hand to his chest, feigning a hurt expression. "that was my best, peaches. you wound me by not liking it." Woah, that nickname came out of nowhere and it made her rethink about what she just heard. 

Raising a brow, she questioned him about it. "What's up with the pet name?" His skull lit up a faded blue colour, which confused her even further. Why did it just do that and what did it mean when he does that? "whoops, it kinda just slipped. if it makes you uncomfortable–"

With a wave of her hand, she stopped him from talking anymore. "Nah, man, it's fine. I don't mind. Though, why that particular pet name?" He scratched the back of his neck, looking away. The blue on his cheekbones only growing.

Where did this Sans come from? What happened to his whole intimidating thing he had going for him that lasted literally only two days apparently? 

"you smell like peaches." [Y/n] furrowed her eyebrows, really bewildered now. She didn't use any type of peach-smelling products. "I don't use anything that smells like peaches... so how?" 

Sans shakes his head, finally making eye contact again. "well, it's sort of your natural smell? if that makes sense?" She gave him a look that said that it in fact did not make sense. Humans don't smell like anything unless they use soap and stuff, or if they stink of BO.

"no, it's... wow, this is a lot harder to explain than i thought." He paused, making sense of his thoughts before trying to explain. "your soul gives off a sort of scent that only monsters can really smell. we all have soul scents, humans included." 

It was... weird, she won't lie, but then again, Monsters were more in touch with magic, so there were probably so many things she had no idea about. "Souls are a real thing, not just religious mumbo jumbo shit?"

"yeah, souls are real. they're the culmination of your very being, all of who you are is your soul. i could show you yours if you'd like." [Y/n] thought over the offer, getting to see your own Soul seemed... terrifying, really. However, she couldn't deny her curiosity at something so strange, like the possibility of seeing her Soul.

"Alright, you got me interested now, let's see my Soul, I guess." Sans watched her carefully before extending a hand forward. He did the 'come here' motion with his fingers and out of her chest, came a little cartoony heart. 

It was not what she was expecting at all, but it was intriguing all the same. Something that surprised her was the fact that she felt so empty without it. Makes sense though, with what the Soul was and all.

"That's my Soul?" It floated in between the two of you, the beautiful colour illuminating everything around with its soft glow.

Sans nodded, examining it closely with his eye lights. "yep, that's your soul. and it smells very much like peaches as well as a scent completely unique to only you."

"Does the colour of it mean anything?" He nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. He explained what her colour meant, which made her smile cause it truly was her. 

This little heart was everything that she was, and that fact alone astonished her.

"Wow..." She breathed and before she knew it, he was already pushing it back inside her chest. "now, i've been meaning to ask you," He looked over at her tablet sitting on top of her backpack.

"why did i see like, countless little doodles of me on that device of yours?"

Her face lit up a bright red, not expecting him to have seen those at all, nor call her out on it. Then again, if she was in his position, she would definitely be asking why someone was drawing her, and why so much.

"Well... I didn't know what else to draw and you just came to mind, so I drew what I drew. Though, right now, I'm trying to draw a commission for someone." She was trying to steer the conversation away from her doodles, and he seemed to go along with it.

"what's a commission?" [Y/n] can't fault him for not knowing, did Monsters even have technology out here in the woods? Or Internet? No, probably not.

"It's like buying and selling something. They ask me to draw whatever they want and I draw it, then they give me money." She tried to explain it as simply as possible.

"oh, makes sense. why aren't you drawing this commission and instead drawing me? i don't think i commissioned you, and you're sure as hell not getting any money out of me." She bursted out laughing at this, she didn't know why it was so funny, but it was to her.

"you're weird, peaches." Calming down, she shook her head in agreement, taking deep breathes to stop the occasional giggles. 

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all of your comments, it is so exciting knowing that people actually like this story! Question, ready to meet [Y/n]’s family next chapter...? :)


	4. IV. The family comes visiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Y/n]’s family comes over to visit, how fun this is totally going to be.

When [Y/n] got a call that her parents and her older brother were coming over in a few days, she freaked out. Why, was a big question that she asked herself. Her family wasn't one you would expect her to have, and due to them being... the way that they are, she didn't keep in contact as much, if at all.

She may have lived with them for a good portion of her life, but her aunts and uncles truly made her to what she is today. Unfortunately, they weren’t coming over and her parents were. Her older brother, Liam, took after their parents quite a lot, so she and him grew apart after childhood.

It wasn’t that she hated her family, she didn’t, but they weren’t the best. They constantly looked down on her, and it hurt, yeah, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate them.

[Y/n] dusted every area of her house and quickly gathered up all the dirty laundry she could find to throw into the washing machine. Her family were neat freaks and definitely wouldn’t be caught dead in the forest unless brought there at gun point. Why they were visiting her out here was beyond her.

Should she make something? Did she have anything she could make? Skimming through her pantry and then her fridge came up with nothing that could be made into a meal, she really needed to get groceries, but now she had no time. 

God, she was freaking out. 

[Y/n] felt her heart sink when she realised that she still needed to go out and do her thing out in the forest. She had no time, she wished she had more time. It was all going too fast for her.

A firm knocking at her door brought her back to reality, a quick glance at the clock told her she truly did run out of time now.

Taking a deep breath to sort herself out and at least calm a bit of her nerves, she walked over to the front door to see her family.

“Hey, guys.” They all scrutinised her for a moment before stepping inside, nearly knocking her over as they did so. Wow, okay, they were being extra rude today apparently.

“I still can’t believe you insist on living in this hovel, does the fact we have a fortune mean nothing to you?” Her mother spoke, her eyes critical of everything she looked at. “I mean, you can live anywhere you wish, but you willingly chose out here. Clay and Diane had a horrible influence on you.”

Her mother was referring to her aunt and uncle of course, which ticked her off slightly that she looked down on her own sister and brother. “Well, Mom, I just really like how freeing it is to be out here, away from the city. You even get to see more stars out here because there’s not much light pollution–”

Her mother waved her off, clearly not listening. Her father on the other hand, wasn’t speaking at all, but by just looking at him, he was disappointed. He never spoke much, when she was a kid or even now, but what his face said was all she needed to know how he was feeling.

That’s when Liam spoke up. “So, what do you even do out here? Have a job? Or are you still doing that art thing?” His voice was very condescending, a quality its always had and always got on her nerves. 

“Well, I am still doing art, that’s my job. I do go out everyday to the forest to get illegal traps out of there.” Her family made a face at that, clearly not liking the sound of that.

“So that’s why you moved down here. To save a bunch of rats from being killed. Can we go see this forest?” Liam asked, which surprised [Y/n], he wasn’t the outdoorsy type. Her mother must’ve been surprised too cause she shot him a sharp look for what he said. 

“Liam, you are not going out there into such filth, nature is dirty, do you not remember that?” He scratched the back of his head, looking away before [Y/n] grew bold all of a sudden.

“He should come with me, I have to go out there anyway and some company would be nice.” She insisted. She may be nothing like them, but she inherited their way to get people to do as they say, it was something that her grandparents used to climb to the top of a rather successful company now. Hence why her family was so rich.

“Fine, just be back quickly, and Liam, I better not find a speck of dirt on your new clothes.” Her mother paused, sneering a bit at [Y/n]. “I expect you being the one all dirty.” Her brother may be older than her, but he still acted like a little kid. Letting her parents dote over him, he depended on them and she doubted he ever moved out.

With that though, they both went out to her truck and climbed inside. Driving to where she usually went to pick up traps, she remembered something. “Shit...”

Her brother gave her a look, confused and critical of her swearing. “What?” His tone was snobby, like all of their tones were, but now it seemed to be shining through quite a lot. 

“I forgot that I ran out of sticks yesterday,” she paused, shaking her head. “Oh well, guess we’ll just walk around since we’re already here.” She turned the truck off before jumping out of said vehicle, Liam doing the same, but more carefully.

“Just watch your step and you’ll be fine, plus, I haven’t seen any traps here in the past few days, so we may not even run into any.” She stated before walking into the dense forest, Liam trailing behind her quickly. 

[Y/n] thought for a second, a sense of panic entering her, is what if Sans made an appearance. It fizzled away though, she figured he wouldn’t show himself with her brother here. It wouldn’t make sense if he did.

“Do you know why we came out here, [Y/n]?” Liam questioned, making her shrug her shoulders. She did wonder why they even came out here in the first place.

“Dunno, just wanted a nice family reunion?” She gave him a teasing grin, only for him to glare at her. She forgot for a second there that she was dealing with her dick of a brother.

“No, we wanted to talk to you about your inheritance.” That made her stop for a second, shooting him a confused look. An inheritance? From who? He noticed her confusion and continued. “Grandma and Grandpa died a week ago, but in their will, they didn’t hand most of their fortune or their stocks off to us.”

His scowl deepened as he stared at her. “They gave it to you, for some reason! You weren’t even close to them!” Now, while this was true, she didn’t stick around her grandparents that much, they were nothing like their daughter was. Greedy, sure, but they were nice at least.

So why would they give her most of the fortune?

“Did anyone else get anything?” Her brother thought for a moment, getting angrier by the second for some reason. She didn’t personally want the fortune or the stocks. Maybe just enough of it to pay for the house she lives in and a little bit in savings.

Liam gritted his teeth and answered in a very strained voice. “Uncle Clay and Aunt Diane got the rest of it, we aren’t seeing a cent of it ourselves, even though they spent more time with us than any of you combined!” 

She frowned now, not liking where this was going. “Maybe they realised how horrible of a family you guys are and didn’t want to give it some spoiled brat and his parents.” His face turned a bright red, with embarrassment or rage, she didn’t know, but it was definitely either of those.

“Shut the fuck up! You’re just as spoiled as me, how do you think you’re able to move around so quickly like you do? Or the fact all you have to worry about is drawing art and not paying bills?” She shook her head, she was different. She didn’t use their money, she used her own.

“You think you know it all, huh? I didn’t use a cent of the family’s money to get here. I worked hard, three jobs at one point, to get this house. And I didn’t do it just cause I wanted to live and prance around in the forest, I did it to help other creatures besides myself. Something you guys will and never do!” 

[Y/n] admits it, she was getting rather heated from this conversation, but he had no right to come at her like this. She didn’t use their money and she especially never used it to be selfish. He was attacking her because she inherited the fortune, but she never asked for it! It’s not her fault she got it, so why was he blaming her and getting angry?

“Keep telling yourself that, you’re just in denial that you would ever be like us.” Something big rustled the bushes in the area, which she had come to recognise as Sans moving around. Oh god, now he was here too? He better not show himself, Liam wouldn’t be able to handle it. 

He would probably tell everyone and hunters would flock to the chance at catching a Monster, if anyone would even believe him. 

Liam got no answer from her, making him throw his hands up in irritation. “Whatever, I’m leaving. Fuck you, [Y/n].” He turned and walked the opposite way of how you were supposed to get out of the forest. 

“You’re going the wrong way!” She called out to him, but he only flipped her off and kept going. “Shit.” She was gonna have to chase after him now apparently cause he was too stubborn to listen to her and go the right way.

Following behind him, it was getting darker and this made her nervous. The forest at night meant more animals, more dangerous animals, would start coming out. And the deeper they went, the more that possibility rose. The only thing that truly comforted her was the fact that Sans seemed to be following along. Maybe he would protect them, her at least, from whatever trouble they may find themselves in.

“Liam, please, you’re going the wrong way. We need to turn around if we have any hope of getting out of here. May I remind that animals do live here and some of which are pretty dangerous?” She tried reasoning with him and eventually he finally stopped walking.

“Fine, let’s go backwards then.” He shot her a glare before jogging the opposite way, the right direction now. As he passed her, he made sure to purposely knock into her. This made her land right on her ass, irritation flickering across her face.

“That was highly unnecessary!” She yelled out before getting up and dusting off her ass. [Y/n] swore that she heard a low chuckle coming from somewhere, but she elected to ignore it. Looking around, the area was very unfamiliar, she’s never gone this far.

That was mainly due to the traps never being that far in the forest. Hunters didn’t venture deep in the forest, Monsters may be just tales, but they still spooked this town just enough that hunters never set up traps further in. Less work for her.

[Y/n] glanced around for her brother as darkness consumed the forest, slowly, but surely. She couldn’t find him, making her curse under her breath. Liam really just left her alone out here. Well... Sort of alone.

“Yo, Sans, you still here with me?” A few cracking of twigs sounded and a familiar Naga appeared. 

“yep, need help getting out?” She gave him a small smile and nod, to which he in turn motioned her to follow him. She trailed behind and took it upon herself to admire him. His snake body was very interesting, especially with how it was such a bright blue. The way he moved and held himself showed that he was incredibly powerful, but it’s also almost like he tried to hide that face with his posture. It was strange, but not enough for her ask about it.

What she did want to ask about though, was his species, the Nagas, she wanted to know if that book of hers was even remotely true.

“Hey, Sans, question for ya.” He looked back at her for a second and gave a hum of acknowledgement, showing he was listening. “Are Nagas territorial?” He seemed a little shocked that she knew what he was, but he didn’t let it show for long.

Sans gave a ‘50-50’ hand motion before explaining. “sorta. we have territories and stuff, but we don’t fight each other if another naga trespasses. unless we don’t like them, then we’ll probably fight. humans are a different story though, most nagas aren’t tolerant of them. you are probably that only human i can tolerate, since it doesn’t seem like you have bad intentions. don’t like that guy that you were talking to though, who was he anyway?”

[Y/n] sighed, looking at the ground and kicking a rock. “That was my older brother, Liam. My parents and him decided to come visit, not because they wanted to see me though. They just wanted to cuss me out for taking their fortune.” She crossed her arms, getting pissed off just thinking about it. “They can just be so... terrible sometimes.”

“then why be around them?” That made her really think. She loved her family and all, they took care of her and everything, but should she love them as much as she still does? They don’t really do anything for her anymore, almost as if taking care of her... was... just another... job.

“I don’t know, I think I still love them. You have to love your family, right? It would be wrong to not to... right?” Sans shook his head, stopping to look back at her.

“nah, peaches. you don’t owe anyone love if they don’t deserve it. do they deserve it?” [Y/n] paused, ready to say yes automatically, but then she hesitated. They really didn’t, did they? Shaking her head, Sans came closer and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see him giving her a comforting smile, a sad grin of her own working its way onto her face.

“Yeah, they don’t deserve it, you’re right, Sans. Thank you.” He waved her off, his smile going back to his usual lazy grin.

“nah, don’t thank me, peaches. just wanted to help you out on this dilemma of yours. ready to start heading back again?” He gestured with his thumb to point back to the way they should be going.

[Y/n] nodded and Sans took his hand from her shoulder, leading her through the forest that was shrouded by the night now. A comfortable silence settled between them the whole way back.

Sans left her side when she got back to the truck, where Liam was waiting with a sneer on his face upon seeing her. “Finally, took you long enough.” Keeping her composure, she just got into the truck, Liam following suit. She started it up, but didn’t start driving. Pulling out her phone, she connected it to the Bluetooth stereo she got cheap from someone a while ago.

“Can we just get going already?” [Y/n] didn’t owe him anything and just started blasting her playlist, Penelope Scott being the singer that came up first on it. She drowned out Liam’s complaints and drove back with a newfound peace in her, a weight lifting off of her shoulders.

When she got back, she dealt with her parents, her mother being the one to start shouting at her for being gone for so long. [Y/n] informed them all that they were no longer welcome to her home, causing a bit of a outrage before they finally left. She immediately collapsed on the couch, feeling rather good about herself for the first time in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is the longest chapter yet! I may start making that a natural occurrence. Also, forgot to ask this last chapter, but do you guys want [Y/n]’s soul colour to be ambiguous or do you guys want her to a have specific colour?
> 
> And, how’d you guys like [Y/n]’s family, wonderful, are they not?


	5. V. What a pleasure to meet you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Y/n] meets another character, who she had no idea existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are awesome, I love reading everyone’s comments and seeing them all always brings a smile to my face. Thank you! And this chapter took a little longer to write due to me brainstorming and planning ideas for the rest of the story, sorry about that. 
> 
> Also, about [Y/n]’s soul, I saw all of your suggestions and I think she’s going to have a set Soul colour, which is, drum roll please, Kindness! This is just her main Soul trait, so if you want her to have other traits besides the main one, that’s fine by me.

The sound of her garbage cans being knocked over and just an overall commotion was not what she was expecting to hear in the middle of the night. In fact, it very much spooked her, so with an aluminium bat in her hands, she hoped to anyone hearing her thoughts, or even reading them, that this was just going to be a raccoon or something and not some crazy robber.

[Y/n] cringed at each squeak of the floorboards beneath her and at the fact that her front door had a lot louder of a squeal than usual. Maybe since it was dead quiet, save for the forest and its' noise. She inhaled and exhaled as quietly as possible before stepping out onto the porch. Looking around with a firm grip on the bat, nothing seemed out of place and there wasn't anyone around, but she hadn't checked where the initial came from yet–

A clattering from where her trash cans were sounded again, along with a string of hushed curses. Putting on a brave face, she started towards whoever was out here, trying not to let them know that she was out here by not making any noise. It felt like a horror movie almost, or a thriller, so she wasn't gonna be that stupid character that calls out that idiotic 'Who's there? Show yourself!' Did they want to die or something?

Staying behind the corner, the trashcans being behind her house, her expression showed one of determination and she ran out behind her cover, raising the bat to wallop the hell out of whoever was back there. [Y/n] stopped short, nearly cracking open the skull of her Monster friend. Huh, when did she start considering her and Sans friends...?

Sans looked like a deer in headlights, his eye lights shrinking until he realised it was just her. Don't know who else he was expecting, but he seemed relieved. "Sans!? What are you doing out here– Better question, how did you find where I live!?" He gave her the most sheepish smile, having the decency to look guilty.

"i tracked you." She gestured for him to keep going, to explain why while looking at him incredulously. "i wanted to see where you lived, so i followed the scent of you and here we are."

Letting out a long sigh, her heart racing a mile a minute, she leaned on the bat a bit. "But why? And how strong is this scent of mine, for you to track me?" He shrugged, maintaining eye contact with the ground now.

"i wanted to ask ya something and it couldn't wait until tomorrow." [Y/n] could understand that, still didn't give her the exact reason, but at least she had an answer, albeit a vague one. "and ya smell, peaches."

"Hey! Rude." She shot him a look, getting close enough to punch his arm. "So what so important that couldn't wait until tomorrow, that you had to track me down and sneak around my house, not very silently I might add."

Sans still wouldn't look at her, glancing around at anything but her. "well, i sorta wanted ya to meet my brother, since he's actually been asking about you." This came as a shock to her, for two reasons. One, he had a brother? And two, he knew about her? The skeleton must've seen the confusion on her face and decided to explain further.

"remember how i said you smelled? you really do, that scent of yours has practically every monster curious. new smells come and go in my territory due to hunters and all, but your scent is sticking around since you come around so much. i don't ever let humans stay in my area, so its' confusing a lot of my kind nearby. so my brother asked to meet you, the mystery human." His grin was laidback and he seemed to have moved a little closer, his eye lights meeting hers almost... heatedly.

[Y/n] briefly wondered for just a moment what his reaction would be if she just kissed him, but she squashed that thought as soon as it came into her mind. Backing away just a smidge, trying to keep her face from going red and possibly alerting him of her thoughts. "Sure, I would love to meet him, when did ya want to go?"

Sans shrugged. "now would be perfect, we're nocturnal so night is the best time for a meeting." She looked him over to see if he was kidding or not, it was late and she was tired. Hell, a yawn was coming on just thinking about sleep. Plus, he never seemed sleepy when he accompanied during the days of her grabbing bear traps. Even that one night when they first met, he didn't look tired then either so was he even diurnal? She'll question him later about it.

"It's the dead of night, Sans, I won't be able to see where I'm going." The Naga thought this over for a moment, searching for some way for her to come with him perhaps. A light bulb apparently went off in his skull, making his grin widen.

"not a problem then, i can just carry you. and to solve the problem of you humans and your up-during-the-day-sleeping-during-the-night, you can just nap on the way there." She actually contemplated it for a moment, weighing the pros and cons.

Pros: She would be meeting his brother, getting a free ride eliminates the danger of hurting herself on the way there, and she would at least get some sleep from it.  
Cons: Her bed was very comfy compared to skeletal arms and did she trust Sans that much to hand over her safety to him? [Y/n] supposed she did with a sigh, seeing the pros outweighing the cons.

"Alright, let's get going then." Tossing the bat to the ground with a thud, she gave him a tired look. When he just watched her, she reached her arms and made a grabby hands gesture to signal him to pick her up already. It was childish, yeah, but she didn't care. Sans was... oddly very gentle in picking her up, almost like she would break if he accidentally poked her too hard. It was sweet, she supposed, and it wasn't too embarrassing to be handled and held like a small child.

To say she fell asleep fast would be an understatement. To be fair, she was exhausted since it was like 2 AM or 3 AM? It was late, that's all the explanation you needed to not judge how fast she fell asleep in a stranger's arms. Well, Sans wasn't a stranger anymore, was he? 

When they arrived, [Y/n] was awoken by a repetitive, but soft tap on her cheek. Cracking her eyes open, she remembered where she was and saw Sans looking over her face, his eye lights more dilated now than she had ever seen them before. It was adorable, really. "we're here, peaches." Craning her neck to see where they were, she saw an entrance to a cave on the side of a very rocky cliff, it was hard to see it, but it was there. The forest around them was not familiar to her at all, but it made sense, his brother probably lived way deeper in the forest than Sans did.

Putting her down, she watched him for a moment before fiddling with her jacket. "So, do we just go in or do we knock? What?" He was chuckling at her words before he pointed behind you. Turning with a confused expression, she was met with the sight of a much larger skele-snake. 

His skull and his body was thinner than Sans, his tail being a very vibrant orange colour. What his brother lacked in width, he made up for in height and in length, his snake body was long and massive, double Sans'.

"AH, HUMAN, I SEE YOU ACCEPTED MY INVITATION TO MEET ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I MUST SAY, IT WAS TRULY WONDERFUL TO FINALLY SEE YOU. MY BROTHER GOES ON AND ON ABOUT HOW AMAZING YOU ARE AND HOW CUTE AND–" Sans cut him off, his smile now much more strained than before and a happy warmth bloomed within her Soul for some reason.

"too much information, bro. she didn't need to know that..." It was hard not to snicker a little at him, which only made his already blue cheekbones grow in intensity. "how about we go inside already?" Papyrus nodded, undeterred by what his brother told him before slithering inside of the cave.

"So, you talk about me, huh? Thought your brother smelled me and wanted to know the 'mystery human?'" She giggled, not being able to resist the urge to tease him over this. She was flattered, definitely, but the fact that he talked, or from how Papyrus was going on about it, gushed about her, made her want to tease him.

"alright, alright, i talked to papyrus about you, but the rest of it with other monsters smelling you is still true." He huffed, profoundly embarrassed that Papyrus had told her everything. Well, almost everything. She laughed, shaking her head before jerking her thumb towards the cave. 

"Let's head inside, bone man, before your brother comes out to investigate what's taking us so long." Sans sighed, but then nodded, going first into the cave and [Y/n] trailing behind him with a little pep to her step. The cave itself was actually very nice, it wasn't wet inside and glowing crystals lit up the place. It was warm, but not overbearingly hot, just... perfect.

The cave eventually opened up to a very large room (?) that had different designated areas. A DIY race car bed, one old pillow on the ground and a fridge in the corner. How he got that to work is beyond her understanding, considering it didn't seem like there was any electricity here.

"I HAVE ALREADY PREPARED A MEAL FOR ALL OF US, SO PLEASE TAKE A SEAT, HUMAN!" She looked to where he gestured and it was the old pillow just out in the open. Shrugging, she took a seat, Sans following and standing beside her. She wondered if he ever got tired of constantly standing. Could snakes sit? Could Nagas sit would be the better question.

"The name's [Y/n], Papyrus!" She called out to him, a hum of acknowledgement coming from him as his answer. He slithered over with some plates from who knows where, food sitting on top of them. It looked like cooked venison, but she didn't see him cook it, it just came out of the fridge. Poking it, it was warm to the touch, bewildering her beyond belief.

Sans chuckled at her expression, making her gaze snap over to him, a question in her eyes. "that's a monster fridge, we make the stuff we hunt into monster food with a little bit of magic and then we store it in the fridge, sometimes we cook it before we store it too. monster food needs warmth to stay good, so... monster fridge."

It was a little strange, having a fridge that produces warmth instead of cold air. But the fact that she was about to eat Monster food excited her to no end, was it any different? Better than human food? Was it okay for a human to eat Monster food? That was a silly though, of course it was, or else they wouldn't be feeding it to her.

A fork and knife was provided to her, to which she immediately dig into the magical venison. Sans watched her curiously, as did Papyrus, wanting to see her reaction to eating Monster food for the first time. Well, that's what Sans was hoping to see, Papyrus wanted to see if she liked his cooking.

Taking the first bite, it melted in her mouth. No, like literally, it melted in her mouth, no chewing or swallowing at all. It just disappeared, but flavour bursted everywhere within her mouth. It was so good, and potentially the best thing she had ever eaten in her entire life. 

Both Nagas seemed pleased with her reaction, Sans still watching her while eating his own food and Papyrus started rambling on and on about how his recipe was superb and it was only right that she was so amazed how it tasted. [Y/n] complimented his cooking skills, making him beam with pride.

Eventually, they all finished up and Papyrus called Sans over to speak with him, the plates disappearing from existence. Magic was what she chalked it up to and didn't want question it. Feeling full and very, very languorous, she moved a bit to lay her head down on the pillow. The brothers spoke in quiet voices, but she was way too sleepy to really care about what they were saying right now.

Hopefully the skeletons wouldn't mind if she just... rested her eyes... for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How’d you guys like Papyrus? He’s such a sweetheart, a snitch, but a sweetheart.


End file.
